WINONA, Minn. – Over the years the Princess Winona has seen it all. This time, again after a hot summer day, young people dipped into the fountain over which the cast-in-stone Princess reigns and spurts streams of cooling water. Somebody called the cops. The cops came. The swimmers ran faster than the cops, who, if truth be told, weren’t inclined to serious chasing. This was about 2 a.m.
Her eyes averted. The Wabasha princess keeps her gaze high, ever-looking for the lover her chieftain father wouldn’t allow. Or so goes Winona’s favorite fabled story from long, long ago.
Many years, many homes
The Princess Winona statue was created by sculptor Isabel Moore Kimbal who taught drawing at the Winona Normal School. She began creating the sculpture in 1900 and finished in 1902. The statue was first at Central Park, then to Lake Park in 1962, then yo Levee Plaza downtown in 1977, then to Windom Park in 1993.